Ananya Chatterjea - Ananya Dance Theatre

The mission of Ananya Dance Theatre is to create and stage original works inspired by the lives and work of women around the world. The work of the company has evolved around two intertwined goals: artistic excellence and community building, which are accomplished through year-round training programs. Every project is built around the themes of social justice and the belief in beauty as a philosophical force, which generates well-being and healing. The company has so far produced seven concert seasons in the Twin Cities - No Downtime!! in 2000, A Wife's Letter, Dancing from Shadows, Bandh, Duurbaar, Pipaashaa, and Daak in 2008 - which have all run to full houses here and subsequently toured across the country.

Steve Jevning - Leonardo's Basement

Leonardo's Basement is a design/ build program that intentionally mixes art, science and technology to encourage creative problem solving. Student-directed projects afford children, teens and adults the opportunity to build and invent from their imagination. Programs value process over product and encourage participants to take risks, make, and learn from mistakes. Working from its well-equipped workshop in south Minneapolis, Leonardo's Basement encourages students to be curious and creative learners while acquiring technical, communication and interpersonal skills. Teachers and students learn from each other in a decidedly informal environment that makes learning fun.

Neil Olszewski - University of Minnesota's Department of Plant Biology

Neil is a Professor of Plant Biology and co-director of the Microbial & Plant Genomics Institute. His research investigates the molecular mechanisms regulating plant growth and the molecular biology of plant viruses. Recently, he has become interested in using bio art in education and to stimulate productive discussion of controversial topics such as the use of genetically modified crops. He is producing transgenic plants that will be used by Eduardo Kac in an upcoming exhibition.

Rachel Breen - Invigorate the Common Well

Rachel Breen is an artist, a teacher and an associate of On the Commons, a network of citizens and organizations that champion the commons on many fronts. A commons-based society recognizes that some forms of wealth belong to all of us, and that these community resources must be actively protected and managed for the common good. Exploring ways to make the commons more visible, Rachel has been involved in a strategic partnership with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater in Minneapolis. This has resulted in theatre performances and a water festival that celebrate water as a commons.

Larry Rudnick - Minnesota Planetarium & Space Discovery Center

The Minnesota Planetarium Society's mission is to inspire enthusiasm for science among children, families and all visitors, and to help them explore our universe, understand our planet's place within it and to imagine a better future. The Society uses dramatic, technologically advanced visual programming, hands-on learning, and outreach education. Minnesota is currently the only state without a major permanent, modern planetarium, and the Society is mounting a capital campaign to build the Minnesota Planetarium and Space Discovery Center as the fifth and sixth floors of the new Hennepin County Central Library in Minneapolis.

Jeffrey Kahn - Director, University of Minnesota's Center for Bioethics

Jeffrey Kahn is Professor and Director in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota. His additional faculty appointments are in the University's Medical School, School of Public Health, Law School, and Department of Philosophy. Dr. Kahn works in a variety of areas of bioethics, exploring the intersection of ethics and public health policy, including research ethics, ethics and genetics, and ethical issues in public health, with focus on both domestic and international settings. Widely published, Dr. Kahn also serves on numerous state and federal advisory panels, and speaks nationally and internationally on a range of bioethics topics. From 1998-2002 he also wrote the bi-weekly column "Ethics Matters" on CNN.com.

David Goldes

David Goldes is a visual artist and faculty member at MCAD. His photographs, often based on examinations of simple physical phenomena, are in many public collections including the MOMA in New York, the Walker Art Center, Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and the Art Institute of Chicago, amongst others. He is the recipient of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Bush Foundation and McKnight Foundation. Educated in the sciences and arts he has a BA in Chemistry and Biology, a MA from Harvard University in Molecular Genetics and and MFA from SUNY Buffalo in Photography. This past summer he participated in the 9th Shanghai International Photographic Art Exhibition.